A young boy with a backpack and toy weapons walks into an immense forest – alone. Is this how he imagines the world when he plays in his bedroom? Can his exercises in imagination help prepare him for real-world adversity that he will face? What is our role as physicians in harnessing the power of a child's imagination and shepherding him or her through health care challenges?
As pediatric anesthesiologists, we are frequently required to evaluate children regarding the need for sedation and general anesthesia. It can be very difficult to predict which kids will require pharmacologic interventions and which ones will succeed with education, distraction, and reassurance. Health care procedures are many times the most challenging events in a person's life, and we as anesthesiologists are tasked with the consequential decision of how to get them through it. For many kids, we will choose to render them unconscious and...
